The present invention relates to the art of printing devices and more particularly to a document handling assembly for use in such devices.
It is a long-established practice for banks and other savings institutions to issue passbooks or bankbooks to holders of savings accounts. A typical passbook includes 10 to 12 blank pages bound together within a stiff paper cover. The passbook serves as the customer's record of transactions concerning his savings account. Each deposit or withdrawal is recorded in the passbook by the savings institution at the time of the transaction.
A customer holding a passbook and the savings institution which issued that passbook are both interested in seeing that entries are neatly made and that the passbook is kept in good condition for as long as possible. The savings institution is interested in seeing that entries are neatly made since the customer's image of the savings institution is likely to be based, at least in part, on the appearance of passbook entries. The savings institution is also interested in keeping the passbook in good condition for as long as possible so that it will not have to prematurely issue a new passbook. A customer expects to see properly aligned and spaced entries Entries which are skewed or which overlap may be hard for the customer to decipher. A customer may also wish to keep a passbook in good condition for as long as possible since it provides him with a convenient record of his past fortunes or misfortunes as the case may be.
Before savings institutions began to use data processing equipment, all passbook entries were hand written. If the teller making the passbook entries had a steady hand and a good pen, the customer could expect to have a neat passbook which would remain in good condition while all entry pages were being filled. When savings institutions began to use data processing equipment, they also began to use passbook printers for mechanically printing entries into customer passbooks.
The basic construction of known passbook printers is similar to the construction of conventional mechanical or electrical typewriters. The passbook is inserted between a driven, rotatable platen and one or more idler rollers which force the passbook into contact with the platen. Surface friction between the passbook and the driven platen permits the passbook to be positioned relative to a type carrier upon rotation of the platen. While this typewriter-like arrangement may be perfectly satisfactory for flexible material such as conventional typing paper, the arrangement has certain drawbacks in a passbook printer. The bending of the passbook about the rotatable platen can cause severe damage to the stiff binding of the passbook. Moreover, the passbook must often be manually aligned within the printer prior to printing to avoid skewed or overlapping entries. Even if the passbook is aligned correctly initially, it is not uncommon for the passbook to slip during rotation of the platen causing entries to be skewed or overlapped in spite of the best efforts of the operator.